CASTAWAYS' ORDEAL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23830, 9 June 1939, Page 4

CASTAWAYS ' ORDEAL

FOUND ON VERGE OF STARVATION MAN AND WIFE IN ARID COUNTRY SAVED BY INTELLIGENT ABORIGINAL (From Oub Own Correspondent) SYDNEY, May 30. ■ On the verge of starvation, a man and his wife were found wandering, lost, in arid country north of Broome, Western Australia. They were Mr and Mrs A. N. Johnson, whose ketch Juanita had been wrecked between Broome and Cape Leveque. They had been blown off their course on a trip from Sourabaya to Darwin. Mrs Johnson, when found, was. emaciated and dazed, .having drunk no water for 26 hours and eaten only a few ounces of oatmeal for five days. Her husband, who left her that morning to look for the overland telegraph line, was found next day in a low condition. They were taken to Broome Hospital. The couple owe their lives to the intelligence of an aboriginal postman, Robin Hunter,’ who carries mails by boat between Broome and Cape Leveque lighthouse, about 160 miles north of Broome. He sighted the ketch washed up on the beach near Menarri Island, about 40 miles from Broome. After following two sets of footprints into the dense scrub, he decided that they were •several days old, and returned to the ketch. Hunter can neither read nor write, but stroke by stroke he laboriously copied on to a board the name of the ketch, “Juanita, Townsville.” About 100 yards above high-water mark, Hunter found a large bundle wrapped in a sail, on which were written in blue crayon, “ Note under here.” These words he also copied on to the board. He set sail for Broome, told the police there of his discoveries, and handed, them the board. Constable V. F. Merry, accompanied by Hunter and a black tracker, set out in a utiEty truck to investigate. The stranded boat was found to be a well-equipped ketch. She was not greatly damaged, but was lying on her starboard side with the portholes stove in. She had shipped a large quantity of sand, and her interior was a shambles. Three typewriters, a sewing machine, books, mattresses, and instruments were scattered about. Under the bundle on the beach was a note: “Mr and Mrs A. N. Johnson, aboard auxiliary ketch Juanita, bound from Sourabaya to Darwin, were blown off their course by three severe storms, becalmed off this coast for three days, and ran out of benzine. Have gone for help in direction east and northerly.” Knowing how arid was the country into which the shipwrecked couple had gone, Constable Merry was doubtful whether he could reach them in time. But, after a gruelling trip through dense scrub, the party found Mrs Johnson. She was about a quarter of a mile from a waterhole, but did not know of its proximity. She broke down when she realised that help had arrived. She and her husband had decided to part company that morning, she to return to the coast and he to push on with the idea of cutting the telegraph line, which he believed to be close. Actually, it is many miles south. He had lost his charts, she said, and they had the impression that they were near the Ninety-mile Beach. That is 200 miles further south. Mrs Johnson’s directions were vague, but she remembered that her husband had plenty of matches and that he had made a practice of lighting fires at night. Constable Merry then climbed the hills and built a huge beacon, which he lighted after dark. About half an hour later a faint blaze was seen in the distance. At daylight Merry set out for the spot. After a rough walk lasting four hours, he located Johnson. The man had neither food nor water, and his condition was low. . ■ Johnson gave his age as 54. and said he was an electrical engineer. With his wife hei had recently completed a tour of the Near East in the Juanita, and he had intended to do a similar trip round Australia.